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Agarose–gelatin conjugate for adherent cell-enclosing capsules

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Abstract

Spherical capsules were prepared by extruding aqueous agarose–gelation conjugate solution into co-flowing liquid paraffin at 38°C and cooling the resultant emulsion. Capsule diameter was controlled between 40 and 250 μm by changing the velocity of the liquid paraffin. Adherent Crandall–Reese feline kidney cells enclosed in conjugate capsules of 141 ± 23 μm diam. had a higher degree of proliferation than those in unmodified agarose capsules. Mitochondrial activity, detected for cell-enclosing conjugate capsules normalized against unit volume of gel, was about double that of unmodified agarose capsules over 28 days. These results demonstrated the feasibility of agarose–gelatin conjugate as a material of cell-enclosing capsules.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), no.17760627, 2006, and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research for the 21st Century COE Program “Functional Innovation of Molecular Informatics” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan

    Shinji Sakai, Ichiro Hashimoto & Koei Kawakami

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  1. Shinji Sakai
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  2. Ichiro Hashimoto
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  3. Koei Kawakami
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Correspondence to Shinji Sakai.

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Sakai, S., Hashimoto, I. & Kawakami, K. Agarose–gelatin conjugate for adherent cell-enclosing capsules. Biotechnol Lett 29, 731–735 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9312-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-007-9312-y

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